Catherine Meeks

Proximity without a process

Physical proximity to one another can provide diverse peoples opportunities for caring relationship. However, without sustained interaction and expression of intimacy among people of different identities, the stage is set for dramas in which hate will be a leading character. Proximity without a process that forms caring relationships is a deadly combination.  From “Living Into …

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How then does one begin?

For many years I believed and hoped that altering psychological processes like changing the master status, making people aware of their projections and how they “other” people, would solve the problem with racism. With a growing awareness of how racism operates, for example, Amy Irving suggests in Waking Up White to try to trick the …

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White Surprise and More

Recently my husband and I found ourselves as the only Black couple on a sea and land tour to Alaska and northern Canada. As retirees of the US government and academia respectively, we were quite accustomed to being “the only ones,” meaning being the only people of color in meetings, talks, and conferences. Yet what …

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Embedded in how American institutions and systems function

Centuries of racial discrimination and injustice are the foundation upon which current social and economic institutions stand. Education, for example, is touted as a way for persons to participate fully in the American dream of opportunity and resourceful living. Schools, however, report major disparities in the educational achievement of Black and Hispanic students when compared …

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